Brave and the Bold: Lending A Hand
by JudeDeluca
Summary: After the events of "Outsiders," Arsenal's been struggling with his daughter Lian's unhappiness after her abduction. One night he receives a surprise visit from Cir-El, the third Supergirl, who wants to cheer Lian up.


Disclaimer: Characters owned by DC Comics.

God I've been working on this for most of this year as a gift to someone who's the biggest fan of the Cir-El Supergirl.

I had this idea while thinking about the story arc in "Outsiders" when Lian was abducted. I think I had trouble working on this because I couldn't conceive an appropriate ending until the sequence below came to me as a way to explain how Cir-El would meet the Harpers when I believe she was erased before the "Outsiders" story.

* * *

2:04 AM

"Daddy?"

"Lian?"

"I had a bad dream."

_Another one._

"Please, I wanna sleep with you." She gripped the stuffed turtle adorned with a Superman cape so tightly he was sure her nails had torn through the fabric. At least he wouldn't have to worry about her breaking her nails.

"Please let me sleep with you."

The quality of her voice, that frantic pleading sound, made his heart ache as if he'd been stabbed.

"Its fine, Etai Yazi," he said as quietly and softly as he could, trying to communicate a sense of comfort for his child as best to his ability. "Of course you can sleep with me."

She crawled into the bed before he'd even finished saying "Sleep." She then immediately grabbed the blankets and pulled them over both of their heads, making sure they were totally covered. As if that was a better sense of protection for both of them.

"No it's not." She said, curled up like a ball against him, trying to become as small as humanely possible. Thinking that would make her safer.

"What?"

"It's not fine." She whispered again, almost as though she were going to cry.

"No, you're right," He held her closely, almost as though _he_ were going to cry. "It's not."

3:37 AM

He waited until he was sure Lian was sound asleep before he got up. He moved as carefully as he could so as not to rouse her from the slumber she desperately needed.

Some nights she didn't sleep at all. She'd spend most of her time watching him, terrified of closing her eyes even if he was near her. She'd then stay home from school so she could sleep during the day. She never used to have those bags under her eyes.

Her teachers understood, though. After what she'd been through.

Roy had lost count of how many nights it'd been that Lian wanted to sleep in his bed. Actually, those were the good nights. Some mornings he'd enter her room and find her bed completely empty. He'd panic until he heard a noise from underneath her bed or the closet. There she'd be clutching another of her stuffed animals like it was a human shield, terrified for her life.

"I had a bad dream."

Roy walked over to the window and placed his forehead on the cool glass. It was locked. Of course it was locked. Lian made sure all the windows in the house were locked. He even found her trying to nail her window shut with a hammer one day.

He thought back on the way she used to be, and wondered how long ago those days were. This wasn't the first time she'd been in such situations. The encounter with Vandal Savage, the time she'd been infected with Joker venom thanks to her mother, but this…

Roy Harper's not sure if there was a word for this.

That bastard Tanner, using Lian to get to the Outsiders as payback for messing with his business. They didn't just use Lian. They MARKED her. Roy was looking into having that, that thing on Lian's back removed so she wouldn't have any other reminders.

Except for the memories. And the dreams.

Tap-tap.

"Hi!"

Roy was startled out his thoughts by the sight hovering outside this window on the second floor of the house. Before him was a teenage girl, dressed in a black leotard bearing a big red "S." She had elbow-length gloves and wore boots that went up to her mid-calf. The only other color in her costume came from the blue cape billowing in the wind. She had short black hair and she was smiling.

"…"

Roy had no idea what to say.

"Um, can you meet me downstairs?" The floating girl pointed downward with her index figure.

"…"

"Please?" The girl sweetly asked. "It's really important."

3:41 AM

Cir-El, the current Supergirl, floated down to the front door of the supposed safe house Arsenal and his daughter were using. Even though it was wintertime and very cold out tonight, it didn't seem to bother her despite how skimpy her costume was.

A lot of people thought Cir-El wasn't bothered by most things.

A lot of people were wrong.

She heard the sounds of several locks being undone and an alarm system being shut off before Arsenal opened the front door and stepped outside. He'd put on a coat. The cold obviously bothered him more than it did her.

"Hi, so…" Cir-El took a deep breath, before going…

"IknowitsreallylatelikereallyreallylateandyoureprobablywonderingwhyImheresincewenevermetbeforeohmygoshwenevermetbeforehiimcirelimsupergirlimalsosupermansdaughterithinkimeaniliketothinkhesmydaddyandsoanywayi-"

For someone with super senses, she didn't even see his arm move before his hand clamped over her mouth.

"I swear to God," Arsenal's voice was barely above a whisper but with her super-hearing every word was loud as day. "If you wake my daughter, I do not care who your dad is, you are going to die."

From the way he sounded, Cir-El almost believed him. Did this guy study under Green Arrow or Batman?

"I'm gonna remove my hand from your mouth," Arsenal carefully explained. "And then you're going to talk softly, slowly, and most importantly, quietly. Blink once if you understand me."

She blinked once.

He removed his hand.

"What do you want?" Arsenal asked.

"Can I please come in?" Cir-El shivered. "It's kinda cold out here."

3:52 AM.

They reconvened inside the kitchen. Cir-El was seated at a small table while Roy fussed about with some stuff on the counter.

"So, you're the new Supergirl," Roy said slowly, his back turned to Cir-El.

"Mmhmm," Cir-El nodded.

"And you're Superman's kid, apparently," Roy continued.

"Yep," Cir-El smiled. "His and Lois Lane's. She's my mom."

"You said your name was Cir-El?" Roy took a couple of paper plates out of a cabinet.

"Yeppers." Cir-El looked around the kitchen, surprised it wasn't as messy as she expected. She heard Arsenal was sort of a lone wolf type of guy who didn't worry about cleanliness, but since he was also a dad it's obvious he had some sense of responsibility. It reminded her of her own dad.

"So what is it you want?" Roy finally asked. "Trying to get into the Teen Titans?"

"Oh no," Cir-El dismissed that thought. "They already have Superboy so they don't need another Super kid. Besides, I don't think Superboy likes me very much."

"Well I'm sure that's not-" Roy was about to say before she cut him off.

"It's okay. I get the feeling a lot of people don't like me," she smiled as she said it. "I think everyone wishes the previous Supergirl was still around. You knew her, right?"

Yes, he knew her. Well, he knew both of them. Kind of. It was very complicated. Roy knew the first Supergirl, Matrix, when she'd been on his short-lived Titans group. And he was briefly reacquainted with her during that whole thing with Vandal Savage, but that was after Matrix had merged with Linda Danvers. They met a couple of times afterwards, but Roy never got to know Linda on her own.

And then she disappeared.

No one knew why, other than Linda wanted to be left alone.

"Yeah, I did," Roy set a plate down in front of Cir-El. She looked down to see a couple of pieces of toast coated with orange marmalade.

"Oh!" She said surprised. "Thank you, but um, I never asked for-"

"Huh?" Roy looked down. "Oh! I-I'm sorry, it…" he sighed. "It's been kind of a habit for me lately."

"Making toast?" Cir-El was confused.

"It's the only thing my daughter seems to keep down," Roy sighed.

"Oh."

It's true. Lian was so on edge her stomach could barely keep down most food. The only things she seemed capable of eating lately were toast and fruit. He tried to take her out for dinner once when she was feeling up to it.

The night ended with her sobbing in the car because of the scene she made.

"Well thank you," Cir-El picked up a slice, trying to seem grateful. "I've never had marmalade before." As she ate, Cir-El began to talk. "You know I never got to meet the other Supergirl and I should ask Daddy what she was like because I know I have to live up to these expectations of being Superman's little girl and the expectations of being a Supergirl." She swallowed as Roy, bemused by her jabbering, put strawberry jam on toast for him. "So I figured I should know what she was like, who her friends were, who her bad guys were, stuff like that."

"Um," Roy began, "I'm sure that's fascinating, but, why exactly are you here?"

"My goodness, I never said did I?" Cir-El felt stupid. "I'm so sorry. See, I came here because I heard about what happened to your daughter."

Roy was about to take a bite out of his food, then placed the toast back on the plate.

"Was I not supposed to?" Cir-El asked as Roy's face darkened. Suddenly, Roy sighed and closed his eyes.

"No," he said. "It's fine. I know everyone's probably heard about what happened."

Everyone probably did know which is why most of them had attempted to throw a surprise party for Lian to cheer her up a couple of weeks after it happened. Most of the Titans were there, and the Arrow Family, and some of the Justice League and Justice Society.

Roy hadn't known though, and he would've tried to convince them it wasn't a good idea.

He was right.

He didn't want to think about how Lian reacted, or how he almost killed Ollie and Dinah for not consulting him about it. No one had EVER seen Lian that scared before.

"No, it's not fine."

Roy looked up and saw the sympathetic look Cir-El was giving him.

"I mean, I don't know a lot, but I can understand what your little girl must've gone through was horrible. And I'm guessing it's worse because everybody knows and it's not a private thing anymore."

Roy was not expecting to hear that after how bubbly and somewhat inane Cir-El had been coming across so far in the twenty or so minutes since they met. But he was the last person who should judge anyone by their appearance.

"Have you…" Cir-El wanted to make sure this was tactful to ask, "Are you taking her to speak to anyone?"

"We had a session with a doctor a couple of days ago," Roy confided in her, "But I've been trying to get in touch to schedule an emergency session because she's been having a couple of really bad days."

Roy bitterly laughed at the thought these were merely "Bad days."

"Well," Cir-El shifted in her seat, "The reason I came here is because I wanted to help out."

"You?"

"I mean, things between me and my daddy aren't really great," Cir-El explained. "H-he's still not even sure if we ARE related at all since I'm from the future. Don't get me wrong, I think he's wonderful and I think he's the best dad ever. But I heard about you guys and everyone says you're such a great dad and you've got a wonderful relationship with your daughter so I thought 'Hey I'd like to meet these guys because I kind of wish I had the same thing they do with my daddy' and then I heard about what happened to your daughter and I thought how horrible that was and wondered what I could do to help and so here I am and could I actually have some more toast?" Cir-El held up her plate. "I'm kind of hungrier than I thought."

Roy wasn't sure what to say.

"If that's okay I mean."

12:32 PM

Thankfully, today wasn't a school day which meant it wasn't a problem if Lian slept in. Roy spent most of the day hanging around his room waiting for her to wake up. He knew if he wasn't there when Lian opened her eyes, she'd get scared and begin to panic.

"Morning, peanut," Roy spoke as he kissed Lian on the forehead.

"Morning Daddy," Lian yawned as she got up and stretched.

"Are you feeling any better?" Roy asked. "No other bad dreams?"

"No," Lian rubbed away the sleep crap from her eyes. "I'm okay. I guess."

"Well, rub the sand out of your eyes because you've got a visitor."

"Huh?" Lian wasn't sure she heard her dad right.

Roy explained "Yeah, someone wanted to see you. She's got a surprise for you waiting downstairs."

"W-who is it?" Lian held onto her sheets a bit tightly and of course Roy noticed.

"It's the new Supergirl," Roy told her, "It's okay Etai Yazi, I promise she's not here to hurt you." Roy couldn't stop his heart from sinking as he tried to assure his daughter a simple visitor wasn't dangerous. "Trust me," Roy said as he held out his hand.

Lian stared at her dad's hand for the longest time before she gently reached towards him and said "Okay" in a small voice.

The Harpers found Cir-El standing by the kitchen door, looking out a window, when she heard Roy clear his throat and turned around. Cir-El saw Lian standing next to her dad, hiding behind his legs and sticking her head out just a little to get a look at this visitor. The pseudo-Kryptonian girl did her best to smile in a comforting, non-smothering way even as she felt a sense of melancholy seeing the fear in the girl's eyes.

"Hi," Cir-El waved, "You must be Lian. I'm Supergirl, but you can call me Cir-El. It's nice to meet you."

Lian didn't initially say anything until Roy nudged her forward and asked "What do we say, Princess?"

"Hi," Lian mumbled, not moving from her dad's side.

Cir-El knelt down until she was eye level with Lian and said "I heard you haven't been feeling very good these last few days, huh Lian?" Lian nodded but said nothing. "Someone told me you want through something scary, and I'm sorry you had to go through that. I sort of went through something similar. It's not fun at all, is it?" Lian nodded again. "Well, I also heard a lot of people have been trying to help you feel better so I wanted to lend a hand, which is why I brought you this."

Lian and Roy watched as Cir-El opened her right hand and revealed a small silver whistle on a chain that looked like it was made to fit around Lian's neck.

"That's for me?" Lian asked.

"Sure, the chain's too small for your Daddy," Cir-El answered.

Lian looked up at her dad, who said "It's okay, Lian, go on."

Cir-El patiently smiled as she waited for Lian to step forward to accept the gift in Cir-El's hand, not showing any sign of annoyance or exasperation as Lian finally felt secure enough to move forward. Lian walked up to Cir-El, looked at the heroine's eyes and then down at the whistle before she picked it up.

"It's just a whistle?" Lian asked.

"Give it a try and see what happens," Cir-El advised her.

Lian placed her lips to the whistle and blew air into it, but heard nothing. She tried again a couple of times before Cir-El advised her "Easy, sweetie."

"But it doesn't work," Lian thought.

"Sure it does," Cir-El answered as she stood up and walked back to the door. Both Harpers suddenly heard a scratching noise when Cir-El opened the door and said "It's a dog whistle."

Lian quietly gasped as Cir-El ushered in a dog with white fur, wearing a familiar looking red cape.

"Lian, say hi to Krypto," Cir-El introduced the white dog to the young girl. "He's one of my Daddy's best friends and isn't he cute? The whistle's so-"

"DOGGY!" Lian screamed and through her hands around the dog's neck to hug him. Her voice contained nothing but pure delight as she screamed in joy. "He's so cuuuuute!"

"You've never met Krypto before, have you?" Cir-El asked. "I remember I was super happy to see him for the first time as well. So look, you can use this whistle to call him whenever you're feeling especially unhappy or feeling scared and he'll hear it and come over. But you gotta use it responsibly okay? Sometimes he might be helping my Dad with stuff and you can't just use it every day and you are not listening to a word I'm saying huh?" Cir-El giggled as she watched Lian playing with Krypto, laughing as she chased the dog around the house.

"Oh don't worry," Cir-El began to tell Roy, "He's totally housetrained and you don't have to worry about him destroying anything cuz he knows his strength and-"

Cir-El stopped as soon as Roy grabbed her and started to hug her.

"Thank you," Roy whispered, sounding as if he was doing his best to keep control and not totally lose it from the feelings of relief he was experiencing. "I haven't seen her smile like this in too long, _thank you_."

Cir-El was getting over her momentary shock when she hugged Roy back and said in a small voice, "I-it's no trouble. Please, I just wanted to help."

…

"Are you really fine with them not remembering you did this?"

"It's okay," Cir-El answered.

"Really?"

Cir-El sighed, "No. It would've been nice to be remembered again, even a little. If they're happy I can live with it, I guess. Does it make me a bad person that I wanted them to remember me afterwards?"

"No, it just makes you human."

"Is she really going to lose the whistle?"

"They're going to think Superman gave them the whistle at some point, but don't really think to ask. I'm told at some point after her father joins the Justice League and they move past this, it will get lost during the upheaval caused by Final Crisis."

"But," Cir-El said, "If she remembered it, maybe she wouldn't-"

"I know. But it'll work out eventually. She'll come back."

"…"

"You will too."

"What about you?"

"I'm happy where I am, doing what I do."

"But, doesn't it bother you there's a completely different-"

"It's happened before, won't be the last time either. I'm eager to see what she does."

"...thank you for letting me come back to do this, Kara."

"Anything for a fellow Supergirl."


End file.
